BENGALURU, March 23 (Reuters) - Indian shares were set
to open lower on Thursday after the Federal Reserve reiterated
its fight against inflation even as it signaled it might soon
pause interest rate hikes and as the U.S. treasury secretary
ruled out insuring all banking deposits.
India's NSE stock futures listed on the Singapore exchange were down 0.15% at 17,112 as of 7:50 a.m. IST. The
broader Asian equity indexes were subdued. Wall Street equities initially rose after the Fed raised
rates by 25 basis points, as expected, and Chair Jerome Powell
said policymakers had considered a pause due to the turmoil in
the domestic banking system. But indexes gave up gains after Fed
Chair Jerome Powell reiterated the desire to tame inflation.
The indexes then reversed course to end sharply lower after
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the government is not
considering 'blanket insurance' for all banking deposits,
dashing hopes of a quick guarantee to stem the banking crisis.
India's information technology (IT) companies, which earn a
significant share of their revenue from the United States and
Europe, could be pressured by the uncertain banking sector
outlook and an overall slowdown in client spending due to higher
rates, analysts have said.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) snapped
their nine-day selling streak on Wednesday and bought 617.2
million Rupees ($7.49 million) worth of equities.
Stocks to Watch:
** Hero MotoCorp : To raise prices of select
two-wheelers from April 1.
** Hindustan Aeronautics : Government proposes to
sell a stake of up to 3.5% stake in the company.
** G R Infraprojects : A joint venture with Patel
Engineering is the lowest bidder for a 36.37 billion rupees
($441.4 million) project. The company is also the lowest bidder
for a road project worth 8.72 billion rupees.
** HG Infra : The company is the lowest bidder for
a national highways project worth 7.64 billion rupees. ($1 = 82.4030 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio
D'Souza)
